Christ Church CofE Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

There is a calm, purposeful and happy ambience at this school, with strong working relationships between pupils and adults. Everyone is cared for.

Pupils are confident that adults will always listen to their concerns and help them.

The school strives to ensure that all pupils succeed in their studies and social development. Pupils correctly said that teachers make sure that they learn a lot and prepare them well for the next phase of their education.

Many new pupils join this diverse school community during the year. They are immediately buddied up with a classmate. This helps them to quickly feel part of this welcoming school community.

Several newc...omers are new to speaking English. They are paired up with pupil `language ambassadors' who speak the same language as them. This eases their transition into school life.

From the start in early years, staff communicate and reinforce the school's values and expectations. Across the school, pupils respect and value everyone, no matter what their differences. On the odd occasion when misbehaviour occurs, staff support the pupils involved to reflect on the impact of their actions on others and themselves.

This leads to appropriate apologies and forgiveness. Rarely does the poor behaviour reoccur.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

The school's curriculum covers the full breadth of the national curriculum.

School leaders keep their curriculum thinking and planning under regular review. They are adept at identifying and acting on areas that could be even better to meet the needs of all groups of pupils. This means that pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), those who speak English as an additional language (EAL) and pupils who join the school at different points, achieve well across the subjects.

Subject leaders put in place and adapt well-sequenced schemes of work, drawing on externally available materials to support their approach. The school's curriculum thinking ensures that teachers build up pupils' knowledge step by step. Teachers benefit from access to subject-specific training and quality teaching resources.

These support them in delivering effective series of lessons. Teaching provides pupils with many opportunities to revise prior learning. This helps pupils to embed key knowledge in their long-term memories.

Teachers keep a regular check on pupils' progression. They use this assessment information well to address misconceptions and gaps in pupils' knowledge. The early years curriculum is well thought through and established.

It prepares children well for entry into Year 1. In a small number of subjects, leaders introduced new curriculum thinking at the start of this academic year. Although early indications are positive, the changes are not fully implemented.

In a few instances, teaching expertise and confidence are not sufficiently advanced to deliver high-quality learning in these subjects. This means that some pupils are not achieving as well as they could.

There are secure systems to identify, assess and plan for the needs of pupils with SEND.

Suitable adjustments are made to teaching and resources to meet their bespoke needs. This enables them to access the curriculum and gain new knowledge. Equally, pupils who speak EAL are given appropriate support.

This helps them to gain confidence to speak and write English with fluency. New arrivals to the school are assessed at an early stage. The information gathered is used wisely in putting in place the right teaching support, such as for phonics.

It also informs other extra catch-up support as needed.

The teaching of reading is a high priority. All staff have the expertise to teach phonics effectively.

They make sure that pupils have lots of reading practice with books that match the sounds that they know. All who fall behind are helped to catch up quickly. The class reading ambassadors play a key role in encouraging their peers to read a range of books.

Pupils become confident and fluent readers. They develop a love of reading for pleasure and for gaining new knowledge and expanding their vocabulary.

Well-established routines, right from Nursery, ensure that children behave well.

They respond immediately to their teachers' instructions, pay attention to learning and play purposefully with their classmates. For example, in Reception, children enjoyed acting out being 'doctors' treating their 'patients' and writing prescriptions to help them to recover. Pupils are very keen to learn.

They work hard and low-level disruption is rare. The school does all that it reasonably can to improve levels of attendance. Rates of absence have reduced both last year and this year.

Pupils are taught about a range of faiths and they visit different places of worship. Regular educational trips enrich pupils' learning and aim to broaden their horizons. They visit museums, orchestral performances, botanical gardens and beauty product laboratories, for instance.

They are taught about establishing healthy relationships and about risk and keeping safe. Pupils get involved in charitable fundraising activities and take part in speaking competitions. Every term the entire school, from Nursery to Year 6, puts on a musical performance for parents and carers.

Older pupils were proud to tell inspectors about the poems that they wrote. Supported by staff, pupils offered copies or a recitation of their poems to the residents of the local area. Several residents wrote notes of thanks and praise to the school.

School leaders ensure that all their policies and practices are underpinned by their shared values and vision of inclusion. They have secured a coherent, collaborative and collegial work force, much valued by pupils and parents. All staff work together in supporting each other and in the best interests of pupils.

Staff feel demands on their time are reasonable. Leaders are approachable and considerate.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In a few subjects, recent changes and developments in the curriculum have not had enough time to be fully embedded. This means that, in those cases, pupils are not achieving as well as they could. Leaders should ensure that teachers gain the subject and teaching expertise and confidence to deliver all aspects of the new curriculum thinking to a high standard.